Master Of Arts In Counseling (MA)

The Master of Arts in Counseling is designed to equip a student to sit for the state board exams as a school counselor and/or licensed professional counselor. The two tracks differ in the area of internships and practicums and whether they are done in a school or community setting.

Admission Requirements (In Addition to Those Listed for All Graduate Students

Students must have completed courses in general and developmental psychology or their substantial equivalent from an accredited college or university before admission to the MA in counseling program. Students must have either completed an undergraduate statistics or a quantitative research methods course, or passed the CLEP or DANTES statistics test, or taken the statistics tutorial before registering for CNSL 5302 (Research Methods and Data Analysis).

Transfer Credit
Degree candidates for the M. A. in Counseling may satisfy a maximum of 18 graduate semester hours with approved courses transferred from another institution. However, for a student transferring from another Wayland degree program to the M.A. in counseling, a maximum of 12 hours will be allowed in transfer. To transfer credit from other institutions, a student must submit an official transcript of the courses to be considered and may be required to submit a catalog description of the course from the institution where the course was taken. The appropriate academic dean of the school, and the Vice President for Academic Services/Graduate Studies must approve transfer credit.

Advisories

Students in the school counseling program must be certified and have taught for a minimum of two years before they will qualify for the school counselor exam in Texas. They must pass this exam to be certified. Different rules, policies and laws may apply to out-of-state students interested in this degree.

Supervisors for internships and practicums in school counseling must be certified and/or licensed as a school counselor, as well as be terminally degreed. Supervisors for community counselors must be licensed professional counselors themselves, in addition to being terminally degreed.

Students wishing to become licensed professional counselors are required to complete 3000 hours of supervised counseling after graduation and before they can sit for the state board exam in Texas. Different regulations may apply in other states. School counselors who also want to sit for the LPC exam should do their practicum and internship in a community setting and their advanced internship in a school setting. All students must have the ethics course before beginning a practicum or internship.